


Training Camp

by byesweetheart (ConstantComment)



Series: Countdown [12]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Coming Out, Coming of Age, Dating, Established Relationship, Friendship, Gay Love Is Punk Rock, Got your back, M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones, Public Display of Affection, Supportive Teammates, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Training Camp, Volleyball, big news!, casual homophobia, learning experiences, no slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 11:50:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10966632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstantComment/pseuds/byesweetheart
Summary: Karasuno joins Fukuroudani and Nekoma for a training weekend before the spring tournaments start up.





	Training Camp

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This is a continuation of my fic, [Boyfriends](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10824327), but part of a larger series that updates _approximately_ every week. Starting from the beginning will probably make things clearer!
> 
> 2\. There are some more difficult themes in this installment. So... less fluffy I guess, but it felt right to include them for Kagehina's growth and coming to terms with where they are in their relationship. Everything is essentially resolved within the scope of this installment, though, save for a minor, minor cliffhanger which is not meant to inspire anxiety. If the tone doesn’t carry from writer to reader, feel free to scold me in the comments. We can talk through it! I promise everything is happy ending material with no major angst, if that helps.
> 
> 3\. Obviously I have no concept of WHEN the volleyball season is during the Japanese school year (and honestly when the Japanese school year is), and I apparently didn’t care to know when I started writing this series. Everything is sort of set like volleyball is a spring sport in American schools - but the team has been training since the winter… I’m giving them that leeway because it’s a club, and because I have no idea what I’m doing! XD Please forgive me - at least you get a volleyball season that’s twice as long? Haha IDK this is clearly about boys making out, not about sportsball.

 

“Okay, guys,” Ukai calls from the front of the dark bus, looking like he just rolled out of bed in his ratty sweatshirt and ripped jeans, but wearing a deeply disturbing grin. “Count up on my signal and then we’re on the road. You better have gone and taken a piss already because we’re not stopping!”

Tobio cracks his knuckles and looks out the window over Tanihara’s head into the early morning, still deep blue except for the yellow streetlight at the edge of the school parking lot. He already has his hood up and his knees tucked against the bus seat in front of him, so he doesn’t see the signal, but he knows the drill: whenever they go on away games or trips, they have to call out their jersey numbers in order so everyone’s accounted for. Usually things go smoothly. Usually.

His teammates rumble or yell or sing-song their numbers, and Tobio grunts his own out in time even if he consistently experiences that split second of anxiety about saying the wrong thing (hey, it _has_ happened before, even though he and Hinata had insisted on keeping their numbers from first year). But, the anticipation really gets to him after Hinata’s shouted, “Ten!” following his own number, nearly loud enough to split everyone’s eardrums at this early hour and way too close to Tobio’s ear—leaning around from his shared seat with Yamaguchi behind him—for it to be an accident.

Sure enough, there’s silence for a beat too long, and then a sound of someone punching or elbowing someone else swiftly in the stomach.

“Wha—? Oh, eleve—”

“TOO LATE! START OVER, CAPTAIN!” Ukai bellows to Ennoshita with probably too much glee.

“ _Uenoooooooo_ ,” everyone groans in chorus. They haven’t even been to that many games up to now, and he’s done the same thing more often than not. Ueno is Tobio’s setter kouhai, and though he’s kind of too quiet for Tobio to feel comfortable around, he’s actually pretty clever and a good teammate… when he’s paying attention.

They manage to get it right the second time, but Ueno receives a noogie for his absent-mindedness from Ennoshita anyway, who’s sitting behind him. Tobio can see down the aisle the way Ueno blushes in his seat, thin face embarrassed and light hair mussed from the roughhousing he’s getting, even though everyone’s just teasing. He considers the first year for a bit until Hinata wiggles excitedly and starts tapping at his back through the thin seat back, like a toddler on an airplane.

“What?” he asks. He tilts his head until it lands on the squeaky leathery seatback, and looks at his boyfriend through groggy eyes. Hinata, predictably, is not groggy, and he’s peering around the seat like a little, sneaky, furry animal, paws and all.

“Nothing!” Hinata grins like he’s got a secret—and maybe he does—and taps his fingers on the bus seat. He ducks in for a kiss under Tobio’s hood and then scrambles back behind the seat. “I’m excited to see Kenma!” he says to Yamaguchi, who says something agreeable while mentioning Haiba’s name as Tobio falls into a light doze.

The bus arrives at the old gym at 9 AM, although it could be the afternoon for all Tobio knows since he slept like the dead. Everyone tumbles out of the bus into the cool, dewy mountain air, and grabs their bags from the back before the guys from Fukuroudani appear at the entrance to the rec center. The older guys wave, but there’s a fresh crop of intimidatingly tall and hulking first years (how?) who only gruffly acknowledge Karasuno. He’s pretty sure he was the same when he first arrived at one of these things his first year, so he forgives them a tiny bit. He figures they’ll get over themselves once Karasuno kicks their asses into next week, and then they’ll all have barbecue and it’ll be fine.

“...Shit. I almost forgot Bokuto and Kuroo are gone.”

Kageyama turns to see Tsukishima, who looks even more bored than usual. Maybe that’s his sad face, too.

“They’re not _dead_ , Tsukki,” Yamaguchi says as he comes up to stand beside him.

“Shut up.”

Nekoma arrives after breakfast, and Tobio watches as Hinata bounds out to nearly tackle Kenma to the ground. Surprisingly, though, Kenma clings to Hinata a little, and then Hinata’s tugging on Kenma’s hair—completely dark now, like Noya’s, except for a streak of bright red that peeks out by his neck under his right ear, and it’s still long—before he grabs his own overnight bag and walks with Hinata to the rooms where all three teams will be sleeping tonight. Tobio hasn’t ever bothered to ask how close Hinata and Kenma got over the summer since they met last year, and wonders if he should have asked after him on occasion. Maybe Kenma knows about him and Hinata already. He probably does. Maybe Hinata’s told him everything, maybe they’ve been talking about him and Hinata long before Tobio figured it out himself.

By the time morning training starts—a game with mixed teams—Hinata’s back to hovering near Tobio, even if it’s on opposite sides of the court.

“We’re gonna cream you,” Kageyama mutters to him between the thready ropes of the net.

“Well, I think Team Green is gonna absolutely destroy you!” Hinata chirps.

Akaashi, who’s setting for Team Green with Hinata as decoy, huffs out a laugh. “You need to work on your delivery, Hinata,” he says, sharing a smirk with Tobio.

Hinata’s eyes take on a devilish glint as he replies, “Kageyama knows what I mean.”

Tobio isn’t quite sure what he means, actually, but all the same that face he’s making is doing something funny to his stomach. It’s probably his eyes. They’re always, always brown and round, but on the court there’s a glint to them that kick starts his heart a little. It’s always kind of been that way, even before he could’ve said he even _liked_ Hinata Shouyou. That glint on the court is an integral part of volleyball now… and it’s bled into times when they’re alone too.

Unsurprisingly though, being on the court with Hinata is much like being alone with him, because the universe shrinks down to a pinpoint—just the few feet of space between them, in a matter of milliseconds, setting the ball for a quick.

Akaashi’s face is a little incredulous. It seems he sees the glint too. “Alright, little guy.”

Hinata’s side loses the match. (Tobio said they would, after all.) But, before they jog off to run sprints up and down the hill as punishment, Tobio catches Hinata as he ducks under the net and wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in close. Hinata is sticky with sweat, cheeks hot and chest still rising and falling rapidly, and his trembling hands press into Tobio’s ribs as their stomachs bump together. He’s full of adrenaline, and he smells gross… but nice also? And Tobio knows from being mildly distracted pretty much every time they’re on the court during practice that his arms and legs look good, too. He’s constantly having to remind himself not to get his eyes stuck on the span of skin and muscle from the bunching fabric of his shorts and the stretched, stark black elastic of his kneepads when he’s about to jump. It’s easier on the other side of the net, but then he has to look at his _face_. He’s not sure which is more distracting, to be honest.

“Good game,” he says gruffly, once he’s figured out what exactly his body seemed to do on its own.

Hinata’s grin, as excited and wide as it was this morning, comes back even brighter. “Next time,” he says with a wink.

“Wow, Kageyama and Hinata are much more sportsmanlike this year. That’s so nice!”

They look over at the Nekoma manager, who’s sitting next to Yachi and holding her hands against her cheeks on the side of the court. Around them, the other teams are in various states of shock, amusement or confusion.

“Oh, not really,” Yachi says, which… c’mon. “They’re just dating.” She looks up and meets Hinata’s eyes. “Is that okay to say? Sorry!”

“Yeah,” Hinata says with a chuckle, and flicks his gaze to Tobio’s again. His heartbeat did pick up a little, but it slows to a calmer pace when the coaches just shake their heads and continue their huddle by the water coolers and the guys who are still dawdling on Team Green, and Tobio’s Team Blue, seem to move on very quickly from this news as well.

Except for that one middle blocker on Team Blue, who looks pretty uncomfortable for someone who just won.

Tobio ignores him in favor of watching Akaashi and Yamamoto grab at Hinata and ruffle his hair as they all walk to their doom.

Hinata may be his boyfriend, but it doesn’t stop Tobio from feeling pretty damn smug. Winning is the best.

The smug feeling doesn’t last long, though. Kenma and Team Yellow beat the shit out of Tobio’s team to the soundtrack of Team Green’s lighthearted jeering. It’s a rough game, but Kageyama does his best not to shoot eye daggers at them when everyone shakes hands.

He’s working on it.

Lunch is almost exactly the same as summer training camp, except it’s not nearly as hot outside, so the watermelon slices they get for dessert give him chills. He sits with Kenma and Hinata, even though he’s still kind of stewing from their loss, and worn out from the sprinting drills after. But, Hinata leans into his space, smiling in that way he has since the morning, so they both keep warm. Kenma just quirks his lips at them and flicks through his phone as lunch wraps up.

“I told Kuroo about you two,” he mutters, cat-like eyes shifting their way when Tobio just lays back in the grass and lets Hinata lean on his bent legs.

“What’d he say?” Hinata asks, spitting a watermelon seed from his mouth, trying to hit Haiba in the back of the head, who’s sitting with two of the Fukuroudani first years close by.

Kenma shrugs. “He just laughed.”

Tobio grunts, leaning up on his elbows. “He laughed?”

“That’s just Kuroo. I could tell if he actually thought it was weird. He just thinks you two are more hilarious now.”

“Hm,” Hinata says, taking another huge bite of watermelon.

“I think it’s because it’s not that surprising,” Kenma continues. “You two feel kind of inevitable.”

Tobio sinks back into the grass. Inevitable?

Hinata snorts. “Yeah, when I told Bokuto, he said he thought we’d either murder each other or make out eventually.”

“Sometimes I still think about that first option,” Tobio replies, and Hinata pinches him hard on his thigh.

The day passes so quickly that Tobio’s almost in a daze by the time they’ve done all their afternoon training, eaten dinner, and struggled through a pretty ridiculous couple of teambuilding games in the gym with full stomachs of ice cream.

(Tanihara totally pukes afterward.)

By the time everyone’s getting ready for bed—bathing or setting out mats for the night—Tobio is absolutely beat. When Hinata comes back to the room all squeaky clean, he barely even notices what he’s doing when he pulls Hinata in for a sleepy hug. He smushes his face into those orange curls as his boyfriend mumbles something about never moving again.

There’s some giggling and teasing around them, especially when Tobio lifts him over his shoulder and carries him across the room until he drops a yelling Hinata on his sleeping mat.

“Don’t do anything weird in this room tonight!” someone shouts amongst the laughter.

“Why? You gonna get too jealous if you can’t join in?” Tsukishima says from behind the guy’s back, towel slung over his shoulder and eyes judging harshly.

It’s the same middle blocker from earlier—Onaga, Tobio thinks—who scoffs and folds his arms in response. “Well, it’s not cool to make everyone uncomfortable just ‘cause you wanna touch each other’s dicks.”

“Says the guy who has to jack off before every away game!” Akaashi says a little snappishly, and a bunch of the others laugh like there’s a story there.

Hinata is peeved though, because the second year doesn’t seem to be shamed enough to stop giving them uncomfortable looks while everyone unrolls their blankets and fluffs up their pillows and jumps around on one leg trying to get their pajamas on as quickly as possible. “Are we even allowed to sleep next to each other, or is that too _weird_ for you?” Hinata asks Onaga, voice cold. Even though he’s small, every guy in the room can hear the threat in his voice. “We’re not gonna have sex with like, a bazillion smelly guys in the same room.”

Even with the comment about sex, which Tobio’s fairly certain they’ve never talked about on their own, Tobio snorts. “Yeah, you’re kind of overestimating your appeal,” he adds.

“What do you mean? _I,_ for one, am probably the most arousing person ever,” Tanaka says to the room at large, hand splayed across his chest as if he’s been outrageously offended.

“To Yachi, maybe!” Adimari blurts out, and the tension is broken. Everyone laughs, and jokes and goofs off while getting ready for bed, but Tobio doesn’t miss the small hug Hinata gives Tanaka before he settles onto his mat for the night.

Tobio sits down on his mat and looks at his boyfriend looking at him for a moment, before he sees Hinata’s gaze wander to the same guy, now glancing warily at them every now and then from the opposite side of the room. That’s when he makes his decision.

He rolls into a crawl and shuffles over to Hinata’s mat until he’s hovering directly over him, straddling his lap and leaning down to kiss him goodnight. Hinata’s hand slips into his hair when he tries to pull back, and they mouth at each other’s lips until there’s a whistle from somewhere in the room, and a low rumble of laughter and playful catcalls as people scoot under their covers.

Hinata beams up at him and they both look toward the source of the sound, seeing Haiba and Kenma on their mats next to each other a couple rows down. There are other guys snickering or blushing around them, but Kenma gives them a small smile and lifts his fist to bump Haiba, who shrugs and grins.

Tobio kind of wants to be their friend. A little. Maybe Kenma would agree to talk with him about setting if they were friends. He tried to talk to him on his own once and Kenma ran away, though. He asked Hinata about it one time and Hinata just started laughing at him.

Tobio sleeps well, up until someone trips over one of his ankles sticking out from under his blanket in the middle of the night. Turns out it’s Hinata, who groggily apologizes with a, “S’rry Tobio,” as he leaves probably to pee judging by the soft, silly chant he sings as he leaves the room. Tobio’s dozing when he comes back and scoots their mats closer together.

With his eyes half-closed, Tobio reaches out and catches Hinata’s fingers. “Shou,” he mumbles.

“Yeah?” Hinata yawns.

Tobio shakes his head and rubs his cheek into his pillow. When he feels lips briefly at the corner of his mouth, he blinks his eyes open.

He can’t see much in the darkness, but there’s a pretty pleasing beam of moonlight that cuts from the window across Hinata’s face and onto the space in between them where their hands are still joined. Tobio catches the pale shine of Hinata’s cheekbone and the wispy fan of his eyelashes and thinks… Has he ever told Hinata he’s beautiful?

Because he is.

Tobio leans in this time and presses his lips to Hinata’s slowly, free hand brushing gently through the baby hairs around Hinata’s ear.

“No weird stuff,” Hinata whispers against his lips when their lips part. Tobio can tell he’s only half-joking.

“This isn’t weird,” Tobio replies, frowning. He squeezes Hinata’s hand. “We’re not weird.”

There’s a small smile in his voice when he begins, “Tobio, I…” It seems like he wants to say something important, but instead he sighs and says, “I like you a whole lot.”

There may or may not be a cat purring in Tobio’s chest right now. Tobio can’t confirm or deny.

“Even when I cream you at volleyball?” he asks, and lightly tugs on Hinata’s earlobe.

“Ha. No.”

Tobio snorts, leans in to kiss him again.

“But…” Hinata sighs after several long moments. “After five seconds I’m back to normal.”

Tobio thinks Hinata falls back to sleep after that, but he tells him, anyway, low and soft: “I really like you, too.”

Hinata doesn’t reply, but he makes a small noise and gives up on keeping the space between them, arranging himself so he manages to both curl up and sprawl against Tobio at the same time, throwing his blanket over them both and promptly falling into a light snore.

Tobio tucks his nose against Hinata’s cheek and sleeps.

In the morning, the team managers serve a big breakfast to everyone’s euphoric surprise, so the team tournament that comes after is energetic and upbeat. Karasuno battles Nekoma first, and they don’t even make it to three sets because Kenma and his team manage to scrape two wins right off the bat. It’s a really good game, though, and it’s good to see they have just as much trouble getting their first years to really mesh with the returning players as much at Karasuno did the the first month or so. They still have enough powerhouse players to pull through, but this year Tobio thinks they’re on a much more even plane.

Fukuroudani is next, which is still a tough match even without Bokuto and the massive group of third years they had last year, and maybe partially because they’re tired from the first game with Nekoma, and also because Tobio has to look at that guy Onaga on the other side of the net more often than he’d like. It gets way better when they win the first set though, because he was able to get a couple good plays in with Hinata.

In the second set, the serve rotation comes around to Hinata, and despite his progress over the last two years, the tension ramps up as he spins the ball in his hands before walking out to the corner of the court. He looks back at the team, and at Tobio, and then bites his lip with wide eyes.

“Try it,” Tobio calls out, knowing exactly what’s going through his head, and Hinata nods enthusiastically.

It happens much like it did during practice the other day, like they’ve been practicing since the first time he managed the jump serve a couple months ago at Tsukishima’s snide suggestion. He looks great at first, smooth and powerful. Except, he falters right at the top of his jump and the ball goes wide, out of bounds on the left side. When one of the Fukuroudani first years comes out to serve after, Hinata tries to hide his disappointment as he returns to the sidelines.

“Next time, Hinata!” Noya calls, and Tobio lifts his hand to ruffle his fingers in Hinata’s riotous hair.

“Next time,” Tobio echoes, so only Hinata can hear.

“Right!” Hinata shouts, and the team jogs out to receive with a chorus of their Karasuno chant. Hinata holds Tobio’s hand a bit too long as he pulls his fingers from his hair, and then Tobio’s leaving to stand ready by the net.

They don’t win the second set, but in the third they absolutely demolish them.

It’s a good day, with lots of drills after lunch and then an extensive game of capture-the-flag on the entire property just before dinner, with teams divided up like yesterday. Tobio and Hinata are on opposite sides again, but Tobio gets to see him when Hinata sneaks over the boundary to try and capture the flag that he and Inuoko are guarding. He manages to get past them, but Tobio races after him through the trees and across the parking lot and onto the lawn, tackling him just before he gets past the boundary. The game ends when Tanaka comes racing by with the other team’s flag in the air—and his shirt missing, of course—across the boundary in the other direction, with five guys chasing after him. Hinata and the defense players on his team are laughing too hard to be disappointed in the loss.

After smashing some grass in Hinata’s hair just for fun, he helps him off the ground and then goes to high-five his team mates. He makes sure to look at their elbows, or just wait for them to high-five him, because he’s learned that somehow he’s the worst at high-fiving. Suga tried his best all last year to train him, but he’ll probably always be hopeless.

He even high-fives Onaga, who sheepishly extends his hand as well.

“You played good today, Kageyama,” he says. “I’m sorry I was a dick about you and Hinata. I just didn’t know what… I’m sorry.”

Tobio nods slowly. “Are you apologizing to me just because I’m a good player?”

“No—”

“Good. But, I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” Tobio says.

Onaga shakes his head a little. “That’s not true,” he replies. “I’ll apologize to Hinata too. I guess I just wanted you to know I realized I was wrong and I’m working on it.”

Tobio sighs, shakes his hand once more and watches him walk toward Hinata, who looks uneasy but listens to him, takes his hand. Tobio sees Akaashi beyond them, looking satisfied.

He catches his eye and walks toward him.

“You told him to apologize,” Tobio says when they’re trudging side by side with the group to the other side of the campus where the grills are.

Akaashi shrugs. “I actually didn’t. We talked about why he was uncomfortable. And why he needs to grow up. And how you’re no different from anyone else. He did the rest.”

Tobio takes a deep breath. “Thanks, Akaashi.”

Akaashi glances at him, and, probably seeing the scary-confused look on Tobio’s face, chooses to pat his shoulder. “You aren’t, you know,” he continues. “Different, I mean. You just like your best friend. Sounds like the best way to do it, honestly.”

Tobio is quiet all the way up to the grilling area, in line for food, and he ends up wandering over to the base of the hill at the edge of the picnic area lost in thought. He stirs up his rice and digs in.

Is it really that simple? Maybe not, but it could be. He doesn’t feel all that different since he realized he liked Hinata. Maybe happier, but that’s not a personality trait or something people could judge him for. He’s good at what he does. And bad at some other stuff. He’s no more or less charismatic… that’s for certain. He’s just himself. And Hinata’s nothing if not himself, too.

“Hey, Kageyama-senpai…”

Tobio looks up from his food.

Ueno is standing over him with a plate piled high with chicken and veggies. He has two cups in one hand, as well.

“What’s up?”

“Can I sit with you?”

Tobio looks around at the empty space on either side of him. “There’s plenty of room,” he says.

Ueno hands him a cup when he’s settled in. It’s full of milk. Tobio nods in thanks before gulping some down. They sit quietly for a while, chewing and watching the other guys goof off around them. Tobio wonders if Ueno’s here for a reason, but then the younger setter is talking again.

“Kageyama, can I ask you a personal question?”

Tobio nods, deciding which piece of beef he should eat next. Or if he should have another piece of broccoli and save the good stuff for last.

“When did you know?”

Tobio pauses with a piece of beef perched on his chopsticks, pauses chewing when Ueno doesn’t expand on whatever he’s trying to say.

“...Know what.”

Ueno tucks his hair behind his ear and pokes at the rice in his bowl. “Sorry,” he nearly whispers, then: “When did you know you were gay?”

Tobio’s brain kind of feels like the dial tone when a phone call goes dead.

Someone is asking him for advice.

Tobio blinks and looks around to see if anyone is witnessing this.

“Uhhhhhhh,” he says when Ueno just looks over at him expectantly, if still very timidly. “I… guess when I wanted to kiss a guy. I didn’t think a lot about it much. There was champagne.”

“Oh,” Ueno says, biting his lip.

“I’m kind of not... I just—like Hinata. I haven’t figured my whole wife— _life_ —out, if that’s what you think. I think I liked him before that, but that’s when I realized I liked guys. Well, a guy. Uhm, why d’you ask?”

Ueno shrugs and nibbles at a piece of cabbage.

Tobio decides not to ask any more questions because 1) Ueno looks embarrassed and 2) Tobio is _really_ embarrassed. He just watches Ueno a little warily through the rest of dinner. The first year seems fairly normal except for the split seconds he looks across the lawn at Ennoshita, who’s chatting with Fukuroudani’s manager, Suzumeda, at one of the picnic tables. At the end of the other table, Hinata is talking as he chews, as a smattering of other guys all stuff themselves sick while listening to his story. If Tobio hadn’t had this weird exchange with Ueno, he’d be doing the same thing.

The bus ride home is quiet. Even Hinata can’t keep himself awake, but he still mumbles in his sleep as he curls under Tobio’s arm in their bus seat, nearly in Tobio’s lap with his legs resting over Tobio’s thighs. When they get to the main road to Torono Town, though, he wakes up, like he’s got a homing device in his brain or something.

Tobio blinks blearily down at him as he perks up and presses his face to the window and the car lights passing by. Tobio tugs at the edge of Hinata’s gym shorts.

“What are you doing, you weirdo?”

Hinata looks back at him and shakes his head. “Nothing!”

Tobio grumbles, “You keep saying that.”

“I’m just…” he trails off, before grabbing Tobio and arranging him so he can sprawl all over him again. “I’ll tell you later. Once I know it’s for real.”

Tobio frowns at him.

“You keep doing that and your face is gonna get stuck that way,” Hinata whispers. He smiles up at Tobio, and then his face is getting closer and his lips brush against Tobio’s. 

And then Hinata’s knuckles jam into Tobio’s hair, rubbing back and forth against his scalp roughly.

“Ow! What the—”

Hinata’s laugh prompts quite a few projectiles from the neighboring seats, and some low whining from their teammates who haven’t learned how to sleep through his particular decibel level.

By the time they’re pulling onto campus, numbers of cars already idling in the yellow-lit parking lot, Hinata is nearly vibrating with nervousness.

Tobio shakes his head, but he wraps Hinata’s fingers in his and squeezes tight anyway. Hinata smacks a kiss to his lips before he climbs over him to get off the bus first, and Tobio’s barely grabbed his overnight bag and nudged into the aisle when he sees him sprinting toward his dad’s car.

Hinata is still talking with his parents as Tobio clambers into the car with his mom, even as they drive away. He hopes it’s nothing serious.

Around two minutes into their drive home, Tobio’s telling his mom about the capture-the-flag game when his phone starts vibrating.

Tobio swipes at his screen immediately. “Hinata?”

“Kage—Kageyama!”

There’s something weird about Hinata’s voice, like he’s been crying. But, he doesn’t sound upset.

“Kageyama!” he nearly yells again. His voice is high and thready. “I have s-something to... tell you!”

Tobio looks over at his mother, who can probably hear Hinata yell from the driver’s seat. She glances over at him before turning her eyes back on the road.

“Hinata, what’s going on?” Tobio asks.

Hinata starts crying again, but he manages to get some words out. “We’re moving this summer!”

In that second, it feels like Tobio’s stomach drops out of his body.

“Ah—I mean, sorry!! We’re moving closer to Karasuno this summer! Natsu’s switching to Torono Town Elementary next school year so we’d both be coming over the mountain everyday, so mom and dad decided it would be good to be closer!”

“Holy crap, Hinata,” Tobio wheezes. “Don’t frickin’ scare me like that!”

“I’m sorry!” Hinata wails, and then he’s crying again. “ _Tobio_ ,” he says. “I’ll live closer to you!”

“...Is this why you were weird all weekend?” Tobio asks, heart battering around in his chest as Hinata chatters about how he’d _really_ wanted to tell him at training camp but he didn’t want to have to take it back if his parents decided against it.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you, I—” Hinata’s voice breaks down again, and Tobio listens to him cry a little. His throat feels like there’s a rock in it, but it doesn’t feel dull and empty to want to cry right now. He feels like _smiling_. “I wanted to tell you so, so bad. Tobio! I’m so excited!” he gasps.

Tobio’s eyes fill with tears, and his cheeks are starting to hurt. “Yeah. Me too,” Tobio manages.

“I gotta go,” Hinata says. “I ran away from my parent’s car so I could call you, so we still gotta drive back. They’re gonna be so pissed I made them wait!”

“Okay,” Tobio rasps. “Text me.” Tobio loves the sound of Hinata’s breathless goodbye. He can’t help but keep smiling when the call goes dead.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?”

Tobio startles and swings his head to look at his mom, whose eyes are curious and concerned. He nods quickly, and tries to subtly wipe at his eyes. He’s pretty sure she notices, since she lingers at a stoplight too long look at him.

The words bubble out of him before she can ask anything further: “Hinata is moving closer to town this summer,” he says, jiggling his knees as he looks down at them. 

“Oh! That’s fantastic!” she says. “That’ll be so much easier on him. And you’ll see each other more outside of school, right?”

“Yeah.”

They turn down their street. Tobio struggles with what to say next, because he knows his mom is waiting on… something. Suddenly, he just wants to say everything.

“Mom,” he mumbles. “I—I really like him. I… I’m—”

He stares resolutely at one of the AC vents on the dashboard as she turns to him.

“I’m gay,” he finishes.

He’s not sure what he was expecting, but seeing his mom almost jump out of the car, leaving the driver door open as she walks around the front of the car to the passenger’s side, is definitely not it. Things make a little more sense when he realizes they’re actually parked in their own driveway, but then she opens his door and nearly takes his eye out leaning in and wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Mom, the seatbelt is suffocating me,” he whines when she doesn’t let up for a good while. 

“Oh dear. Sorry, Tobio,” she says, and her voice is watery too. Tobio hates that when she’s emotional he can’t do anything but want to cry too. It doesn’t help that he’s already on the edge. He unbuckles and climbs out of the car, and then his mom just takes his face and peppers kisses all over it before hugging him once more. He can smell her shampoo and their laundry detergent and a faint whiff of the perfume she put on this morning. 

“My brave baby boy,” she whispers against his temple, and Tobio’s chest bursts with something bright and fizzy and slightly awkward and very warm. He starts crying for real this time, arms wrapping around her tight.

They’re still hugging in the driveway when his dad comes out and asks what’s wrong.

His mom shakes her head, probably trying to say that nothing’s wrong but actually nothing is coming out of her mouth, and Tobio’s dad’s face does the thing that Tobio’s always being made fun of for. He looks terribly angry, but Tobio knows he’s really just worried and trying to suss out the situation. He walks over when his mom just beckons him with a flitting hand, and then the three of them are embracing outside at nearly midnight.

“It’s okay,” Tobio says, voice still a little watery. He smiles when his dad squeezes at the back of his neck before rubbing up and down between his shoulder blades. “I have something to tell you.”

**Author's Note:**

> EMOTIONS ARE HIGH!!!!!!! LOTS OF CRYING!!! BUT IT'S HAPPY AND FULL OF LOOOOOOVE!
> 
> (But, seriously, please let me know of any concerns you have in the comments. I'm always striving to be a better writer and I'm aware that some of these themes I'm covering are difficult to convey and can be difficult to read. LOVE Y'ALL, MEAN IT.)
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me!
> 
> [Tumblr](http://byesweetheart.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/byesweetheart_) | [Countdown Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/bye_sweetheart/playlist/7BqcBvnylmDTG20FZxjTFv)


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